Survivor's [Spoiler] Says 'Brutal' Injury Was Way Worse Than It Looked On TV: 'I'm Not Sure I Could've Made It All The Way Through The Game'

Spoilers ahead for Wednesday's episode of "Survivor 50!"

A foot injury didn't take Colby Donaldson out of "Survivor," but it certainly could have.

In Wednesday's wild Blood Moon triple elimination (read our full recap here), Colby's injury was only getting worse. So much so that Emily clocked that keeping Colby in the game could work to their advantage as a two-fer... if he was medically evacuated days later. Despite the injury that he suffered following a challenge, the "Survivor: Australian Outback" vet says that a torn ligament wasn't the worst of his problems. 

"The swelling continued, the inflammation, the redness, the heat. My foot was like an oven," Donaldson tells TVLine in our Q&A below.

Below, the tenth player out also reflects on his life outside of the game and why he's "handing over the baton" to the game's new generation of players. Scroll down to read more from Colby on what has become his last "Survivor" hurrah. (And check back soon here or on our YouTube page for full video of the interview!)

TVLINE | Colby, first off, give us an update on your foot. What was the actual diagnosis, and what happened after you were voted off?
COLBY DONALDSON | The foot's good today, thanks for asking. It was two separate injuries that ironically happened on the same foot. In the challenge pushing the boat up the beach, the one where we had the Zac Brown reward, ultimately I learned after the game that I tore a ligament in my foot, so that was bad. I don't know if it would have taken me out of the game, but it was certainly something to contend with. After that challenge, walking back to where they were holding us before we shipped back to our beach, I must have stepped on something that punctured my foot because I began to develop an infection, and docs were telling me in the subsequent days (because it was Day 9 when I injured it and then we started seeing some infection come in on Day 10), the infection or bacteria had to be introduced from the outside-in.

So it wasn't the damage to the ligament that did it. The docs couldn't find a puncture wound. We don't really know how it got introduced, but the facts are I started developing an infection in the bottom of my foot that wasn't gonna get better without some serious antibiotics, and they can't give me any sort of treatment in the game. So it was a day-to-day thing. I would check in with the doctors each day and let them have a look at it. The swelling continued, the inflammation, the redness, the heat. My foot was like an oven. It was brutal. I'm not sure, Nick, if I could have made it all the way through the game with that injury. After it was over and I went back to Ponderosa and they treated it in the next few days, Dr. Joe said it was probably the worst infection he's seen in the game. So it was bad. But because I went out early, it wasn't a huge storyline, so there wasn't any reason to cover it more than they did.

TVLINE | At Tribal Council, you reflected on your 25-year history with the show. Watching the show back on TV, do you have anything to add and what has the post-game experience been like?
The game itself was phenomenal. The post-game has been really fun. I didn't anticipate developing as many friendships as I have. I've enjoyed getting to know not only the players in the game that I played with — and look, you never wanna end up at Ponderosa after the game. But here's what's unique. On most seasons, if you don't make the jury, they ship you back home, but because this was a big returning player-season, they kept those of us who were eliminated pre-jury in a separate Ponderosa. So we don't get to interact with anybody that's in the jury, but we have our own little Pondy over there. So then I got to hang out with a lot of the players that I didn't play the game with, and get to know them and kick Charlie's ass in ping pong, even with a hurt foot, on a daily basis at Ponderosa. That was a lot of fun.

Kamilla was one of those [people] I didn't have a chance to play the game with, but she's got a wicked sense of humor that I love. Very dry. She's just a funny gal, and so I enjoyed her. And I got to connect with Jenna. I hadn't seen Jenna in years. So, you can bracket it. You've got the game, and then you've got Ponderosa after you get voted out, and then you've got everything that's transpired since the game. And I stay in contact with all of my friends, even though I'm not on social media now. Everyone knows how to reach me and they know that I'll answer the phone or at least call them back immediately, because it's important to me to stay connected and also help some of the younger players through this experience. I think those of us that have done it for many years, that's part of our role to sort of shepherd the group.

This was, for me at least, a handing over of the baton. I knew this was my last time because I believe the younger generation — not just new era, but just the younger players — need to carry the torch forward, pun intended. And if this brand and this franchise continues with its momentum, it's got lots of legs left. It's got a lot of years. I think it's time for this newer generation to begin to carve out their status as true icons of the brand and of the game. That's why I don't mind stepping back and stepping away and being done with it. It's been an incredible chapter, but it's time for the newer players to get their opportunities to go back to multiple seasons. And then they'll get that perspective that I have now because it's taken a long time. Clearly, I didn't have it when I went and played "Heroes vs. Villains." I still wasn't in the right mindset and [didn't] have the type of respect and appreciation. It was a driver, Nick, for me going back. I told Probst this in an interview we did prior to me being selected. I didn't respect the game in "Heroes vs. Villains." I was grumpy with producers and those that were interviewing me. I was grumpy with Probst, Probst was grumpy with me. We just have this brother dynamic, but I didn't want to end that way. I didn't want that to be my last experience. It wasn't fair to those I was around and, and I'm better than that. So I wanted a shot to go back and show Probst that I was, in some ways, that same 25-year-old Colby that applied 26 years ago.

TVLINE | In the first few days, you said you found Rizo to be kind of an annoying character, but you later came around to him. Being someone who also played "Survivor" in your 20s, what did you see in him in those first few days?
I talked to him a few days ago. He's a good young man. Now, the elements about Rizo that annoy me, still annoy me, right? He talks a lot, he doesn't work nearly enough or hard enough, but that's Rizo. But over a few days, Nick, I was able to find the real redeeming qualities in Rizo, and it didn't even take a few days. It was pretty quick. I could see that there was a good young man, very bright. He's an incredibly sharp, young guy. He also knows the game better than I do. He's a superfan, but he's played more recently, so make no mistake, there was some strategy in aligning with him, both from the aspect of, "Here's a guy that can help me through the game, this old man that doesn't know the game the way these younger players do." But I remember telling Genevieve this when she was not at all about keeping Rizo around, I said, "I think he's malleable," and not in a bad way, but I said, "I think he's wanting to grab ahold," and now we see it in the show play out with what he's doing with Cirie. He's playing a good, smart game. If we had come back together in a merge situation, he is an ally of mine. He may not want to carry me all the way to the end, but he's not gonna target me immediately after a merge. He was somebody I could play with. Also, once I learned about Rizo's background, his upbringing, his family back home — a lot of that stuff is private and I will let him get into that — but it was easy for me to connect and see the good in Rizo, and I try to do that with everybody. But my connection with Rizo partly is because we started together on Night 1.

Also, what we didn't see on TV, I couldn't sleep in the camp and so I'd go down on the beach and the boat we had would stay sort of marooned on the beach at night. I would sleep beside the boat, just to block the wind and Rizo would sleep in the boat. It's actually a somewhat practical place to sleep. But that was our nightly sleeping spot and so we had conversations every night, all of which were on camera, but it didn't play out in the game. So we bonded at night a lot because we'd talk to each other or he'd talk me to sleep, because the dude never stops talking. But I had a lot of great stories and a lot of great times with Rizo down on the beach at night.

TVLINE | We saw Cirie refer to you as "the head of the snake." What do you think about that and how did you feel about your position in the game, had it not been for the Blood Moon twist?
Yeah, I felt really strong about my position. I had a lot of friends. Cirie is not wrong — not necessarily that I'm the head of the snake, but she's a good enough player and savvy enough to know that I had a lot of connections and there were allies of mine on several other beaches. So again, Nick, that's where the luck of this game comes in. Either you catch it or you don't. I'd say Genevieve had the least amount of luck out of all of us, especially finding two idols that you don't even get to use for yourself, and then the rock draw that put her on that tribe last night that voted her out. I caught an early break in our first tribe swap. Well, bad break when we lost Kyle, bad break when Q lost his vote, because I was locked in with Q and Kyle. Another bad break when I lost my vote, but then a good break when we tribe swapped because I got on a good tribe over at the Kalo beach. So you get some luck along the way. You just need a lot of it to matriculate your way through this entire game. But Cirie made the right move. It was the smartest move. I knew she was gonna do it, and it was because I know how good she is and I know the way she thinks, and it was the right move for her at that time, no doubt.

TVLINE | Your first season was way back in Season 2, so what surprised you the most stepping back onto the beach for "50"?
We were all surprised on "50" that it wasn't pacing up quicker in the game, right? That's what led to a bloodbath or Blood Moon of three Tribals in one night. We kept waiting for this. We were running the numbers in our heads just like the fans are going, "Wait, how in the world are they going to get rid of this many people?" And so the old school guys and gals that came in, we thought we would hit the beach and the intensity level and the pace and speed of it would immediately be at 100, and it wasn't. And so the game really developed slower than what we were anticipating, not that that was a bad thing. It was just odd for us to be in it and for there not to be more action and more things going on, but then, you know, again, two eliminations last week, three this week. They knew what they were doing. They had everything laid out and set out. We were just left to be sort of tricked by all of it as we went along.

TVLINE | It's such a blast for fans to see people like yourself come back to "Survivor," players who haven't hit the beach in seven, 10, 15-plus years. If and when the next returnees season happens, who would you like to see return to the fold?
Oh, wow, great question. I don't know what I would say to that. I think a lot of the old school players — I'm thinking of the complete old generation — we've all had two or three or four, or some people five shots, so we knew we weren't gonna see Boston Rob back there. It's probably the only reason guys like me even got an invite because you had some heavy hitters, some real legends that didn't come back and so many of those badass winners didn't come back either. So that sort of left the door open for some of the B-teamers like me. It's going to be fun to watch the new generation. Not just the new era, but newer generation players. Even like Joe, for instance, who's in his 40s, but he's a new era player. He's not old, but he's not a young guy, but even those guys could come back multiple times and play the game again. I think the fans will enjoy seeing some of these guys and gals from the newer seasons come back and carry the torch forward.